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WHO releases simplified treatment guidelines

Geneva, October 7, 2010

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new simplified diagnosis and treatment guidelines for people with common, but untreated, mental, neurological and substance use disorders.

The guidelines are designed to facilitate the management of depression, alcohol use disorders, epilepsy and other common mental disorders in the primary health-care setting.

The Intervention Guide extends competence in diagnosis and management to non-mental health specialists including doctors, nurses and other health providers. These evidence-based guidelines are presented as flow charts to simplify the process of providing care in the primary health-care setting.

'In a key achievement, the Intervention Guide transforms a world of expertise and clinical experience, contributed by hundreds of experts, into less than 100 pages of clinical wisdom and succinct practical advice,' said Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO.

The WHO estimates that more than 75 per cent of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders -- including nearly 95 million people with depression and more than 25 million people with epilepsy -- living in developing countries do not receive any treatment or care.

Placing the ability to diagnose and treat them into the primary health care system will significantly increase the number of people who can access care.

'Improvement in mental health services doesn't require sophisticated and expensive technologies. What is required is increasing the capacity of the primary health care system for delivery of an integrated package of care,' said Dr Ala Alwan, assistant director-general for non-communicable diseases and mental health at WHO.

An estimated one in four people globally will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, a statement said.

People with mental, neurological and substance use disorders are often stigmatized and subject to neglect and abuse. The resources available are insufficient, inequitably distributed and inefficiently used.

In the majority of countries, less than 2 per cent of health funds are spent on mental health. As a result, a large majority of people with these disorders receive no care at all.

WHO in collaboration with partners will provide technical support to countries to implement the guidelines and has already initiated the programme for scaling up care in six countries; Ethiopia, Jordan, Nigeria, Panama, Sierra Leone and Solomon Islands.

'The programme will lead to nurses in Ethiopia recognizing people suffering with depression in their day to day work and providing psychosocial assistance. Similarly, doctors in Jordan and medical assistants in Nigeria will be able to treat children with epilepsy,' said Dr Shekhar Saxena, director of the department of mental health and substance abuse at WHO.

'Both these conditions are commonly encountered in primary care, but neither identified nor treated due to lack of knowledge and skills of the health care providers.'

The Intervention Guide will help scale up care for mental, neurological and substance use disorders - which is the aim of WHO mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), according to the statement. – TradeArabia News Service